


I was just trying to give you good footage!

by PhoenixAccio



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghost Hunters, Ghost Frank Iero, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-11
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-05-21 02:41:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14906795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhoenixAccio/pseuds/PhoenixAccio
Summary: Gerard is a shitty ghost hunter who goes to haunted places to yell at spirits. Frank happens to be one of those spirits.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [frankiesin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/frankiesin/gifts).



> This is based off a prompt frankiesin put in his "ideas I'm never going to use" book lol if u aren't gonna use it I will

Gerard pushed open the old wooden door with one hand, wincing when the hinges creaked loudly. He knew he wasn't supposed to be running around in abandoned buildings, but he wasn't about to let that stop him. He just needed to avoid getting caught.

Gerard Way was a ghost hunter. Sorta. He was mostly just a guy who liked running around old buildings with a video camera. At one point, he had managed to convince his best friend Ray to come out with him, but after nearly getting caught by a cop for trespassing, Ray had sworn off joining Gerard on his 'adventures.'

Ray had been a total sceptic anyways, so it was no great loss in Gerard's opinion. It was no fun looking for evedence of the paranormal when someone was constantly hissing in your ear that "This is such a waste of time! Ghosts aren't even real, Gerard, we're not gonna find anything."

Gerard rolled his eyes, even though nobody was there to see. Ray was wrong about ghosts not existing, and Gerard was going to prove it eventually. He was sure of it.

He fiddled with the buttons on his camera, adjusting the settings for the dim light, and starting the video.

Gerard had received the camera for his birthday a little over a year ago, from his brother Mikey. It was really fancy, night vision and everything, and Gerard loved it. He was determined to be the first person to find indisputable evidence that spirits were real, and he was going to use this camera to do it.

"Hey!" Gerard yelled into the seemingly empty air. "Hey, spirits! Come fuck with me! Come on, I'm not scared of you!"

Gerard crossed the room, looking around through the viewfinder of his camera and continuing to shout random insults at the air. He shivered, realizing suddenly how cold he was, and wishing he had brought a jacket.

"Hey, anybody in here? If there's any ghosts with me, give me a sign you're here! Come on! You scared?"

Gerard stopped shouting for a moment, waiting for any response, and suddenly heard a very loud thump come from somewhere behind him, to his left. Gerard let out a startled scream worthy of a cheesy b-horror movie, and whipped around.

"Who's there?" He cried out, "Show yourself!"

Gerard looked frantically around the room through his camera. It was too dark to see without the night vision. His eyes passed over a small table, and he stopped. There was a fancy ceramic vase on the table, and right there, before his eyes, the vase slowly slid off the table and shattered on the floor.

"Holy shit!" Gerard screeched. "Oh my god, what the fuck?"

Gerard backed up, then turned on his heel and bolts, running towards the first door he sees and grabbing the icy knob. He twisted it and, thank god, it opened. Gerard ripped open the door and lurched inside, slamming it shut behind him.

He leaned against the painted wood, panting. Holy shit. Ray couldn't deny that. Looking around the room he was now in, Gerard realised it was an ancient, dilapidated bedroom. Dust coated every surface of the somewhat Spartan room. Aside from a few pieces of furniture such as a large, Victorian looking bed, an uncomfortable looking wooden chair, and a dresser with a large mirror hanging above it, the room had no decoration. Gerard guessed that everything else must have been taken by the building's previous owners, maybe sold. That, or the last person to live here just hadn't had much regard for interior design.

With the adrenaline now beginning to leave Gerard's system, Gerard stood up straight and walked over to sit on the bed, when he suddenly saw how fogged up the ornate mirror had become. He turned to look at it, and as he watched, letters traced themselves into the mirror like someone was dragging a finger across its surface.

_dude i'm friendly i was just trying to give you good footage_

Gerard was only a tiny bit ashamed to say he may have screamed just a little when the words appeared on the foggy mirror in front of him.

Apparently, the ghost or whatever it was wasn't finished with Gerard. After a short pause, the words began again underneath the first message.

_also, i like your face_

That part threw Gerard off a bit. Was a ghost fucking _flirting_ with him? Gerard wasn't used to dead people thinking his face was nice. He wasn't even used to alive people thinking so, but that was irrelevant. Besides, Gerard didn't think his face was all that great. Average, at best.

"Um... thanks?" Gerard said to the fogged up mirror. It was processing in the back of Gerard's head that this was solid proof that something else was out there. He had believed in ghosts before, of course, but deep down, there were still doubts. That was all gone now.

"What's your name?" Gerard asked, deciding he ought to start with introductions before, like, interrogating whoever this was about the afterlife and shit.

 _Frank_ said the mirror.

"Uh, I'm Gerard?" Gerard said, his words sounding more like a question than intended. He gave a little wave, and dropped his hand awkwardly. He kind of wanted to slap himself. Frank probably thought he was a total weirdo.

"That was you out there then?" He asked. "With the vase?"

 _yeah man, sorry if I freaked you out_ Frank wrote.

"No, it's okay. I came here for ghosts." Gerard paused. "You are a ghost, right?"

 _no, I'm batman._ he wrote, and it was really amazing how clearly the ghost(???)'s annoyance came through in writing. _yes, of course I'm a fucking ghost_

"Okay, just wanted to make sure." Gerard raised his hands in surrender. He wasn't sure, but Gerard thought he heard the faintest whisper of a laugh in his ear, almost too quiet to hear. Oh, man, Ray was gonna flip.

 _cool shirt_ Frank wrote, prompting Gerard to look down to see which shirt he was actually wearing today. An old Misfits t-shirt that he'd had forever.

"Uh, thanks, man." Gerard felt a little awkward actually speaking _with_ a ghost, rather than just shouting into thin air. Especially when said ghost had opened the conversation by saying he liked Gerard's face. "You like the Misfits?"

 _yeah, dude, they're fucking ace,_ replied Frank.

Well, at least the ghost had good music taste.

"I... uh... I think I should probably head home?" Gerard says awkwardly. He wasn’t totally sure what to do at the moment, but he was talking to a fucking _ghost,_ dude, what the hell was he supposed to say? He looked at his watch. 4:00 am. 

"Yeah, it's really late, I should go."

 _no, dude, c'mon!_ Frank writes. _why can't you just hang with me for a bit? it's been forever since i've had anyone cool to talk to!_

Those words made Gerard feel sort of guilty, suddenly, but he's also a little freaked out by the face that he's talking to a fucking _ghost._ Like, how would this even work?

"Seriously, dude, I need to go home eventually," Gerard said, in a weak attempt to avoid the situation entirely.

 _maybe we can hang some other time?_ Frank offered.

Gerard could practically hear the hopeful touch to the ghost's words, but he pushed it away. He couldn't.

"I dunno," was all he said. "Wouldn't it be all weird? You're, like, dead."

 _oh, thanks, I hadn't noticed_ Frank wrote. His words dripped with sarcasm, even with no voice behind them to emphasize tone, which made Gerard laugh a little, despite himself.

 _so what if i'm dead?_ Frank said. _we can still be bros._

Gerard made a little noise in the back of his throat. "I can't even see you. We're only talking now because of this fucking mirror."

_but we're still talking, right? you understand me, i understand you? this mirror ain't going anywhere._

"Can you even leave the building?" Gerard asks, looking around before returning his gaze to the mirror.

 _i don't think so_ Frank replied, _i tried a couple times before but it was like there was some kind of invisible wall blocking all the exits_

Gerard was trying to get out if this, really, but his inner ghost hunter couldn't help but be fascinated by this source of firsthand facts about the _fucking afterlife, dude!_ What kind of scientist would he be if he let this opportunity pass him by?

"What if we tried to find something your soul might be attached to?" Gerard asked, before he could stop himself from going into total nerd mode. "Maybe if it's an object keeping you here, you would move with it."

 _um, maybe?_ Frank wrote. _dont know how this shit works. would my body work for that?_

"Probably!" Gerard nodded. "You know where it is?"

 _yeah_ replied Frank _it's in another room. i could maybe show you sometime_

"Okay," said Gerard. "How did you even die, if your body just got left in an abandoned building like this?"

_woah, already getting into the 'how'd you die' questions? isn't that more second date material, tiger?_

Gerard reddened considerably.  
"Shit, sorry, I didn't mean to intrude or anything," he said quickly.

 _nah, man. don't worry about it. i'll show you another time_ Frank reassured. _assuming you come back, that is_

Gerard wanted to say no, like a sane person. He totally did. He wanted to tell this _motherfucking ghost_ that sorry, no, they couldn't be bros or whatever, that he couldn't be friends with a dead dude. He just couldn't. He maintained this absolutely sincere desire for about 20 seconds before he broke.

"Fine, I'll come back tomorrow night so you can show me your corpse, or whatever," Gerard gave in, a traitorous grin creeping onto his face.

 _yes!_ Frank wrote. _i knew my total ghosty coolness would win you over eventually!_

"Yeah, yeah," Gerard replied, flipping his hand dismissively, smiling full-on at this point.  
"Maybe tomorrow I'll bring my Ouija board," he laughed.

 _can't wait_ Frank replied, and Gerard shot the mirror a final grin and wave before turning to leave the room. To be honest, Gerard couldn't wait either.


	2. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By popular demand, here's chapter 2! I have the rest of the story planned, but it's pretty vague so I can't promise regular updates. I won't abandon this though, it'll just be slow.

As promised, the next night at 9:00 Gerard was preparing to head back to the old, abandoned house to visit Frank. He could hardly believe he was actually going to do this. It barely registered that the previous night had even happened, let alone the fact that Gerard was planning to go _back._ He definitely had qualms about returning -- he didn't want to get arrested -- but the opportunity to talk properly with a _real life ghost?_ That was something most ghost hunters would be willing to _die_ for, no pun intended.

Gerard grabbed a granola bar and his jacket, and after a moment of deliberation retrieved his Ouija board from a cabinet. It couldn't hurt, right?

Gerard tucked the box under his arm, unwrapped the granola bar partway, and slipped out the door into the cool, late summer breeze. The old house wasn't too far away from Gerard's apartment, so he could walk there, which was a relief. Gerard didn't have a car, and he didn't want to have to try and find a ride this late at night. He'd wanted to bring Ray with him tonight, and Ray did have a car, but he thought he should probably ask Frank if it was okay to bring a plus one, first, so he'd decided not to, at least until he got a chance to ask Frank's permission.

Gerard looked up, studying the sky above him as he walked. It really was an excellent night for communing with the dead. The moon was large and round in the sky, not yet full, but close, and Gerard thought he could maybe see a few bats flitting about above him. He laughed a little, grinning at the little animals.

Nights like this, just on the cusp of autumn, the perfect middle ground between hot and cold, with the moon nearly full, were perfect. They were easily his favourite time of year.

He strode down the street, chewing his granola bar and enjoying the scenery, until eventually he came upon the abandoned house. It had been standing empty for several years, just because it cost too much for anyone who would want to live here to afford. The only life in the old dwelling for the first few years had been the teenagers sneaking in to have sex or break things, but that had stopped abruptly when a rumor started going around that the mansion was haunted. The teens had cleared out pretty fast after that, leaving but the occasional scraggy raccoon as the house's primary visitors. 

Those rumors of a haunting had been why Gerard had been exploring the house in the first place. Apparently, the teenagers with their reports of a phantom walking the building's halls had been right all along.

Gerard finally pushed open the front door, swallowing the last of the granola bar and crumpling up the wrapper, which he shoved in his pocket to throw out later.

"Hello," he called, "Frank?"

He moved further into the house, wishing he had thought to bring a flashlight. He was about to call out again when a candle suddenly lit itself on a table just within his field of vision.

"Well, that takes care of the light problem, I guess," he muttered under his breath.

Gerard crossed the room to the candle, picking it up by the little dish it rested on. He felt the cold spot around the little table, and smiled slightly.

"Hey, Frank," he greeted, aiming his voice in no particular direction. He assumed Frank was nearby, to cause the sudden chill to the air, and that the ghost would hear him fine regardless of where he was looking.

He straightened up, and brought the candle into the room from the night before, with the big mirror, placing the candle on the room's wooden dresser. He set the box containing his Ouija board down on the dresser shyly, and stepped back to sit on the straight-backed wooden chair. Soon enough, a layer of fog appeared on the mirror, and words began to trace themselves out on the glass.

_hey, dude! i almost thought you weren't gonna show up!_

"Of course I was!" Gerard said, only lying a little bit. "I promised."

 _thanks anyway_ Frank insisted. _it gets boring around here sometimes_

"Not a problem," Gerard reiterated.

"Hey, uh, I brought a Ouija board." Gerard grabbed the box and went back to his chair, placing the box in his lap.

 _oh, dude, i didnt think you'd actually do that haha_

"Do you wanna try talking with it?" Gerard asked, nodding as the word _totally_ sketched itself out on the mirror.

Gerard moved to the floor to get set up. Pulling out the board, he set the box aside and placed the planchette in the centre, resting his fingers on the edges, as per the instructions. He moved the planchette to 'HELLO,' and almost immediately noticed what felt like two warm hands placed on the planchette to mirror Gerard's own position, as a cold spot engulfed the area around the board.

"Woah," Gerard muttered to himself. "Frank, is that you?"

The planchette moved under Gerard's fingers to rest on the word 'YES.' Gerard grinned. This was _so_ cool.

"So, what do you want to do tonight, Frank?" Gerard asked, looking straight forward, in the direction Frank had to be in to be using the board right now. He looked back down when he was finished speaking so he could watch the little window on the planchette, to see Frank's response.

'D-O-Y-O-U-W-A-N-T-A-T-O-U-R'

"A tour? Like of the house?

The planchette swiped to 'YES' momentarily, before continuing, 'I-L-L-S-H-O-W-Y-O-U-A-R-O-U-N-D-T-H-E-P-L-A-C-E'

"Okay," Gerard agreed, "I should probably know my way around if I'm gonna be spending a lot of time here."

The planchette moved to 'YES,' before Gerard picked up the board, balancing it so the planchette would stay on the board, allowing Frank to talk if he wanted to, and grabbed the candle with his free hand.

As he reached the doorway, the door swung open, seemingly I'd its own accord, although Gerard knew Frank had been the one to open it. He nodded towards the door in thanks.

"Such a gentleman," he said.

'I-K-N-O-W' replied Frank jokingly, once Gerard had crossed the threshold and the door had swung shut, leaving Frank free to move the planchette. Gerard laughed, and they set out on their tour.

*

Once Gerard and Frank had wandered around the house for about an hour, they came upon a final room, the last one Gerard hadn't been inside of yet on Frank's a very thorough tour.

"What's in here?" Gerard asked.

'S-E-C-O-N-D-D-A-T-E-M-A-T-E-R-I-A-L,' was Frank's only reply. Before Gerard could stop to figure out what the ghost had meant by that, the door swung open.

Omce the door had closed again behind him, Gerard barely had a chance to see anything in the room before the form of a person flickered into existence in front of him. Shorter than him by at least a couple inches, and covered in tattoos, the shaggy haired guy's fingers rested on the planchette of Gerard's Ouija board, as he moved it to 'GOODBYE'

"Frank?" Gerard asked, shocked.

The guy winked playfully, taking his hand away from the board to hold it up in a little wave, wiggling his fingers.

"That's me," he replied.

"I can see you?" Gerard said, more of a question than a statement, really. Frank nodded in confirmation.

"I have sort of a range." Frank scratched at his neck a little. "The farther I get from the centre, the less I can do. The only reason you can see me now is because we're _here,_ in this room in particular."

"What's so special about-" the words slipped out right as the pieces of the puzzle were collected and snapped together, his brain finally getting its sensory-input shit together. In quick succession, he scanned the room and spotted what looked like a pile of fabric and leather, with maybe some sticks in it, sitting in the middle of some darkish stain on the floor, but it wasn't that at all, because Gerard recognized the shapes, and _oh, god,_ that was a dead body. That pile of scraps and what Gerard now realized _must_ be bone, was a _person._ That stain was probably _blood._ As soon as that realization passed through his mind, another connection clicked into place. Frank had 'range.' That range's centre was here, in this room. This room, with the human fucking corpse in the corner. Oh my god.

"Frank," said Gerard, stunned. "Frank... what- what happened?"

Frank looked away, crossing his arms protectively over his chest, and shaking his head.

"Can we maybe not talk about this? You know I died, does it really matter how?"

"Kind of," Gerard said. "I mean, that looks like dried blood, around your body." Gerard gestured to the pile of bones in the corner of the room. "And, like, a lot of blood, too. What _happened_ to you that you bled _that much?"_

Frank rubbed at a specific spot on the back of his head, still refusing to meet Gerard's eyes. He shook his head vigorously.

"Frank," Gerard started.

Frank's eyes suddenly flashed a bright orange-scarlet, and Gerard was thrown across the room, slammed into the wall by some invisible force.

 **"I̼ D̟̪O̼N'̱̜Ț̱ ̩W̤͕A̜̤N͎T͖ T͙͉O ̖̘TALK̯͉ ̙̲A̦͙BOṶT I̯͍T͙!ͅ"** Frank shouted, his voice shaking beneath the inhuman layers of sound. His face looked swollen and bruised in places all of a sudden, hair sticking down in the back like it was wet. _Reverting back to how he looked when he died,_ the incredibly unhelpful ghost hunter voice in his head commented.

Frank shook his head again, crumpling in on himself to crouch to the floor in a panicky, protective position. He rocked back and forth just a little. "I just don't want to talk about it right now, okay?" He snapped.

Gerard nodded. "Yeah, I know, I'm sorry. I can understand why you wouldn't exactly be ecstatic to talk about something like that."

He got down on his knees so he was level with Frank, and attempted to brush some of Frank's dark hair out of his eyes. To his surprise, Frank was actually tangible enough that it worked. Frank looked up at him, revealing his bruised face again, with the glowing eyes, like embers. There really was a lot of blood in his hair. Now that Gerard was up close with the candle providing some light, he could see it easily, matting his hair in clotted clumps.

"Hey," Gerard whispered, in a way he hoped was comforting. "Hey, it's okay, we don't have to talk about it until you're ready."

Gerard stroked Frank's back gently, if a little awkwardly, trying to calm him down. Eventually, the glow faded from Frank's eyes, as they returned to their original hazel, and with it, his injuries faded as well, until his hair was clean and dry, his skin clear of bruises and cuts.

"'M sorry I freaked out like that," Frank muttred.

Gerard shook his head.  
"It's okay, dude. I know it's a sensitive subject."

"I threw you into a wall with fucking telekinesis," Frank insisted bluntly.

"That part was actually pretty cool," said Gerard, grinning in spite of himself. "And the multivoice, too, when you yelled at me? That was awesome!"

"Me getting pissed enough to launch you across the room was _cool?"_ Frank asked, a touch of annoyance in his voice. "You seriously have no self-preservation instincts, like, at all."

"Look," Gerard said good-naturedly, "do you want me to have self-preservation instincts, or do you want to be bros, because it's really one or the other. If I had any real desire for self-preservation I would never have come here in the first place, let alone come back a second night in a row."

Frank shook his head and laughed. "Fine, whatever you want. But you better remember this conversation when you're off getting yourself killed by some fucking demon you pissed off."

"Demons are real?" Gerard squeaked excitedly, making Frank laugh even harder.

They sat and chatted for a while, until it was one in the morning and Frank was insisting Gerard go home and sleep.

"You can come back tomorrow," Frank repeated, "If you're so desperate to see this handsome face again. But you need to go home now. Unlike me, you actually need sleep. Seriously, dude, go home."

Gerard crossed his arms, attempting to fake a pout, but his lips were so insistent on smiling that he could only maintain it for a second or two at a time.  
"Fine, I'll leave. But you better expect me back tomorrow. You're the one who insisted we had to be best friends, regardless of you being dead. You aren't allowed to back out now."

"Yeah, I know," Frank laughed, shoving Gerard playfully in the direction of the door. "Now go home and get some sleep, best friend. I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Bye!" Gerard replied, waving, before grabbing his stuff and slipping out the door.  
It was only when he was back home, putting the Ouija board away in its cabinet, that he realized he'd totally forgotten to ask Frank if Ray could come visit him too. _Oh, well,_ Gerard thought to himself. There was always next time.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr @phoenixaccio


End file.
